Effect of drip and subsurface drip irrigation with saline water on tomato crop

Abstract

With the purpose of improving salinity management and water use efficiency in agriculture, an experiment was carried out to study the effect of surface drip irrigation (DI) and subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) on a tomato crop (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, cv. Heinz-2274) in a silty clayey soil with three irrigation water qualities: 3.0, 6.0 and 8.3 dS m-1. The results did not show any difference in the crop response of the two irrigation systems, whereas, the effect of the water quality was manifested. Saline water irrigation affected the tomato growth, in particular leaf area, dry matter, as well as the shoot/root ratios and the mineral composition of leaves, stems and roots. The accumulation of Na+ and Cl- was associated with a decrease in the contents of Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+, whereas, the P content in different organs remained constant. The more the salinity of the water irrigation rose, the more marked was the decrease in yield parameters of the tomato (setting, size, and yield). This experiment shows that in normal water management (100% of crop water requirement), the SDI does not present more advantages as compared with the DI for water whose electrical conductivity is not higher than 8.3 dS m-1.